Grey-'Bot II
by Killini721
Summary: The war continues on. Ariona's injury has caused slight amnesia and her name was changed to Swiftcut; permanently. Swiftcut now runs with the Decepticons, believing herself to be devoted to following Lord Megatron's commands. How long will it take for her to regain her memories back? And when she does, where would her beliefs lie then?
1. Chapter 1

I blink my optics open as I awake from recharge, staring up at an unfamiliar ceiling. I let out a click, blinking again and sat up on a...berth? The rush from sitting up to fast causes my helm-ache to increase, letting out a groan as I raise a servo to rub my helm, shutting my optics tight to avoid the lights above me. Shaking my helm then, I glance around the room I was in. It looked like some sort of med bay. What was I doing here in a place like this? Am I sick? Am I getting an operation? I shake those thoughts out of my head, my frame shivering and I swing my legs off the berth, standing up from it.

Panning around the room, making sure that no one was around, I start to walk around to find an exit out of here. I scowl at myself for ending up walking against the wall in order to find the doors, sliding across the edges of the room. I whirl in aproval in finding the doors before gasping as they hiss open, causing me to fall down into the hallway outside. I look back up after spitting out dust to see two drones frozen in place, staring at me.

I click as a reaction, blinking and stumble on to stand back up on my pedes, letting out a brief, nervous laugh. The drones exchange glances before looking back at me.

"We would request you to return inside the med bay." One of the drones said. I became flustered, taking a step back from the drones and flinch when they took a step towards me, drawing out their cannons. "I believe that won't be necessary," A red 'bot says as he steps past the drones, "Lower your weapons."

The drones did as they were told and dismissed their cannons, one of them letting out a grunt and continued on down the hallway. I watch as they stepped by, cautiously taking a step to the side to avoid anymore contact with them.

"I apologize for that unfortunate greeting." The red 'bot chuckles as he steps next to me, "My name's Knockout, if you haven't known already. It's a pleasure to finally meet the rookie: Swiftcut." I gave the mech a look, taking a step back from him as well, "Swiftcut? If that my name? And what do you mean by 'rookie'?" I asked, raising an optic ridge.

"I will gladly answer your questions once we begin our little tour around the Nemesis. Now, shall we?" He smirks, bowing for me to walk first. I gave him another look, remaining in place as I scan his frame up and down. Knockout stands straight, shrugging and starts to walk down the hall first.

"So you said that we're currently on board the Nemesis. Isn't that a Decepticon warship?" I ask, my expression skeptical. "You are correct. It is run by Lord Megatron himself." Knockout replied. "If that's the case, why am I on this ship? I don't remember being assigned to the Decepticon cause, let alone the Autobots." I add. "Well, you see, dear Swiftcut, you have been a Decepticon for quite some time now. The reason why you don't remember any of this is because of a wretched blow to the helm from an Autobot, causing your processor to malfunction only slightly, having your memories jammed up." He explains.

I make a look at him, "You seem to know a lot on the medical subject." The mech chuckles once more, "Well, I am a doctor after all. If I didn't know much, I might as well be the one to receive medical care after a thrashing," Knockout takes a gander at his digits, "not that I would let that happen."

I can't help but smirk a little from that. After a short while, Knockout has given me a tour around the ship. And yet, there's still so much to explore around the warship. "And this will be the end of the tour," Knockout vents and glances to me, "any questions?" I reply my helm as a reply. He nods and starts to walk away, leaving me. I blink, "Wait." He stops and looks over his shoulder to look at me, raising an optic ridge, "I have much work to do, you know. Make it quick, rookie."

"What are the Autobots like to me? I feel like I have some sort of connection to them, but I can't think more of it." I ask, clenching my servos into fists. Knockout's expression remained neutral, though his red optics had a look to them that cannot be explained. He looks away, his back facing to me, "The only connection you have with them is that they are your enemies. You despise Autobots. Nothing more, nothing less."

With that, he leaves me alone in a lone hallway. I narrow my optics at him, thinking over what he had just said. I despised the Autobots? It sure doesn't feel like it. Or was it the other way around? I can't even think much about it. I had a strange feeling within my chestplate now, but I shake it off and begin to travel around the Nemesis even more, on my own. Going down a random hallway, I hear muffled voices behind a door next to me. My antennas flicker, making a look of curiosity and step closer to the door, about to listen in on the voices.

"Rookie!" I jump and look over to another drone, who was stepping over towards me. He grabs my arm and starts pulling me away from the door. "H-Hey!" I shout, stumbling over a bit as I was being pulled. "Knockout has requested for you to return to the med bay." the drone says firmly. I take a quick glance over my shoulder just to see the door open and I was pulled by a corner, not able to see who the occupant of the room was.

:


	2. Chapter 2

"You shouldn't be so hard on yourself, Nikki. There's nothing you could've done." Steel said as an attempt to comfort the female. Nikki vents and rubs her servos along her faceplate in a frustrated manner, her flowing antennas drooping, "I could have tried. To do something I mean, like, shoot some of those 'Cons that were taking her away. But…I just let some insignificant image get in the way, slow me down, petrifying me. I'm such a fool." Steel tilts his helm in question, his huge optics blinking, "Image?"

"Yes, image. I…saw an old friend. Someone I knew long ago who had passed."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be…she was Ariona's sibling; younger, but, call it a twin spark if you will. Her name was Karona for until the age of ten. She changed her name to Penumbra when she left Ariona. Then, she vanished for some time…her body was found in a steep valley fifty moons later.

Karona was such a spirited youngling…very innocent…she wou-" Nikki blinks when she feels Steel's helm rub against her pede, silencing her with comfort.

"It must have been hard…you three sounded very close." Steel's optics dim in sorrow.

"Ariona was the most devastated. To have your sister- twin at that- to be found dead in some pit, tossed away like some trash. She was…broken for a while, Ariona."

"How did she pull through?"

"She thought positively, that everything would be alright. I can't believe she was able to remain calm for so long." Nikki vents, folding her arms.

"She's strong. You haven't noticed that?" Steel asked, trails of concern in his tone.

"…I know she is." Nikki vents once more, leaning back into the wall with a flick of her teal light antennas, "But she can only stand so much. One day she will break…I know that my time's soon."

Steel tilts his helm a bit with a blink, glancing to the side nervously. If he had a mouth, he'd be biting his lip now, showing concern.

"Did you know that all Oronians are the same in a way? They can share personalities, stories, even the same memories. The race is honestly extraordinary…but at the same time, it's a complete wreck. There's a reason why most Cybertronians call us trash, even though they don't really understand why they do it. It's really because our race is dysfunctional. We're like monsters, if you can say that.

The Oronian scraplet takes all of this in as he looks down, his optics remaining wide open.

Oronians. They really are a lost race. Of course Steel would know about them all. _Would know about it all._ He knew too much. It hurts him, to know so much, knowing the race's history and all. But, there was one Oronian that he was fond of, the one that caught most of his attention.

"What will you do now?" Steel asked, looking up into the female's teal optics. He viewed them as a calm essence, soft light illuminating onto her pale faceplate.

"I'm not under the order of Optimus Prime, so I can go where I please, as I please. What I'll do…I'll try to bring one of his men back. Call it a token of appreciation for letting me stay here. If I don't succeed, well…I'll be off." Nikki vents with a saddened hum, twirling a digit around her antenna. It helped her to think, doing this, twirling a digit.

"Where would you go?"

"Anywhere. Maybe travel the universe, discover new places and defend other races. I wish Ariona would come along…better than fighting in an ongoing war."

"If you do save Ariona, would you stay for her?" Steel continues the question spree. People would be annoyed and done by now, except for those who are willing to talk. Nikki was one of those who are willing. She needed someone to talk to.

"…I would." Nikki admitted as she shifts in place. "I care about her. A lot."

"You love her?"

"Yes…"

Steel was taken aback slightly from the blunt honesty. Usually Oronians would keep to themselves about their zing. Don't ask, don't tell kind of deal, In Nikki's case, it was sad. Ariona wasn't the brightest really. She is so clueless, a child. If one were to love her, she wouldn't return the love back.

She is, what people would say: _'heartless'._

* * *

I sat down on the berth with a vent, puffing out air from my mouth. What was I doing here? Why would he want me here? In the medical bay? Certainly there was something I was supposed to do. There has to be a reason to why I'm stuck on this ship. I gaze up to the other one accompanying the bay, the one that brought me here a Vehicon. I was very tempted to slap him across the helm. I don't know why I would consider this, but, it was an urge.

Of course, I decided against it. The last thing I needed was some bunch of guards dog piling me just because of one little slap I did to someone else. I guessed that it was just some tough crowd. The question was: What could I do now? I wasn't planning on spending time here, sitting like some tree. Or something else related to that.

With a flick of an antenna, I stand up from the berth, stretching out before letting my arms fall to the sides of my frame. I had to get out of this room. It felt too eerie for my tastes. Yeah, what I should do now is to distract that one guard. Should have added more in my opinion, but, things were a lot easier. I roll my shoulders and crack my knuckles, gnawing my lip with a careful exhale.

What am I doing? I'm not going to try knocking him out or anything, right?

I mentally slap myself and take a step forward, feeling my spark stop once I get caught on something with my pede and fall forward, flat on my abdomen with an 'oof'. I glance up, hoping the guard didn't notice. He did. _Son of a..._

I quickly stand up, clearing my vocals and shift around. Man, wasn't this embarrassing? With an intake I waltz forward towards the bot, pursing my lips while my lips purse.

"Hey, I'm famished. Can't you get me anything? At all?" I draw out the last words. Might as well be asking for that one thing…what's it called? Knew it was something that could be considered- oh right, I might as well be asking for interface. I shake the thought out and wait for a response. The Vehicon points over towards some of the cubes of Energon that were on the table on the far side of the room. I almost cringed and vent, shaking my helm.

"No, no, I can't drink any of that. Listen, do you know where I can get any like, raw Energon? Anywhere at all?"

"The Lord doesn't wish for any of us to touch any of the raw material-"

"So what? Aren't I apart of this…cause or whatever now? I should get decent amount of resource like everyone else here."

"But you're not a Cybertronian. You're not like us. You don't deserve any decency."

I literally almost let my jaw drop. What did this drone just-? Please don't tell me that was _racism._

My antennas flare at that with a huff, puffing up my cheeks while I hear a growl within my abdomen. I exhale sharp and put on a frown, looking to the side. Who knew Cybertronians were racist?

The sound of an alarm caught my attention, looking up in alert as the lights flash around me. I was frozen as the Vehicon runs out, shouting: _"An intruder?!"_. I keep my gaze on the red lights, a feeling of nostalgia settling in my mind. _"…Red."_

I blink and shake my head, looking around for the guard. He was gone? When did he-?

A puff of air leaves my mouth, there was no time to figure out where a lowly drone went. I had to get out of this room. The blaring sound was beginning to give me a helm ache. I lift a pede and quickly maneuvered out of the room, glancing around the hallway and wince. The alarms were sounding out here, too. Well, why wouldn't they? My mind was telling me to run, the same as my beating spark was. But why would it? I bite my lip and shake it away, those thoughts again and begin to sprint down the hallway. There has to be a way off this vessel, right?

Swerving past the drones, I keep my helm lowered along with my antennas, panting for air. Why am I breathing? Aren't I-…what kind of questions do I ask myself these days, I'm breathing because I'm alive. I push my ramblings out and continue to run, aimlessly looking for an exit, which I didn't know why I would look for an exit, I-…

I stop, slowing my pace as I intake fresh air, staring up into the clouds, the sky. Where am I? My optics dart around, blinking some more. Looked like I was on top of the ship…the starboard? The deck? I wasn't always that good with ships. And I really don't plan to be. I swallow and slowly walk over towards the far side of the ship, to look over the edge. I choke, freezing up from seeing how far up I was. I stare at the ground below, but it didn't even look like the ground at all, just mist from the clouds. By the ancients….

"Ariona!"

I gasp silently, holding my breath in surprise. That wasn't my name, but why am I turning around? I am turning around. My sights fall onto a tall, slender-like female, armor of gold and white. My spark skips a beat, feeling the sense of déjà vu. But why would I…? The female holds out her hand with a warm smile, as if she were someone who had been looking for me for a long time, glad to had finally found me.

"Lets get going."

::


End file.
